Bottle carrier



Feb. 11, 1947. D; w. MATTSON BOTTLE CARRIER Filed Aug. 7, 1944 C I Dayna\U. Manson! Patented Feb. 1 1, 1947 UNHTED STATES FATENT QFFWE 6 Claims.

This invention relates to devices for carrying two or more beveragebottles, such as those co taining soft drinks, milk and the like.

My invention probably finds its Widest application to the carrying ofthe so-called family units of six bottles of soft drinks now sowidelymarketed. Many carriers have been devised for this purpose but I amchiefly concerned with the improvement of that type of carrier by whichthe bottles are supported by their necks, as contrasted to the box-liketype having pockets into which the bottles are rested upon theirbottoms. To my knowledge the best example of the former type of carrieris that wherein a fiat frame is provided, having three elongated slotsadapted at their ends to engage the bottle necks below their top rims.The centers of the slots are widened so that, as the bottles are movedtheretoward, the rims will clear and the bottles may be removed orreplaced. This frame thus will support six bottles in two spaced rows ofthree each, and to prevent the bottles of each row from moving inward ortoward each other and becoming released while being carried a lockingplate is disposed beneath the frame and between the rows. This plate isthen provided with a flexible rope handle passing upwardly through theframe so that, when the rope is lifted, the plate will be pulled upbetween the bottle necks to hold them apart. This device has somedisadvantage in use, chiefly the fact that the rope handle will not slipproperly to permit the locking plate to descend of its own weight to aposition at which the bottles may be removed. Then too, the plate ismade wide enough to engage the bottle necks when they are being carried,and thus must be tilted to an edgewise position while the bottles arebeing removed. The rope or flexible handle has the further disadvantagethat it falls between and about the bottle necks when released and isdifiicult to take hold of when the bottles are to be carried. All ofthese operations thus require considerable annoying handling andfumbling about on the part of the user of the carrier.

It is the primary object of my invention to improve carriers of thistype by the provision of a handle and locking assembly'of rigid, onepiece formation, non-tiltably supporting the locking member, and adaptedto operate smoothly and readily so that when the handle is released itwill drop of its own weight to move the locking member to bottlereleasing position. Another ob.. ject is to provide means of this naturewherein the locking member is substantially narrower than the spacebetween the bottle necks whereby to clear them at all times and do awaywith the aggravating requirement for tilting the member to clear thebottles. A further object is to provide a handle assembly which whenreleased will fall below the level of the bottle tops so that thebottles may be stacked in the carriers, but with stop means holding thehandle in a position whereat it may be readily grasped to pick up thecarrier.

These and other more detailed and specific objects will be disclosed inthe course of the following specification, reference being had to theaccompanying drawing, in which- Fig. 1 is a plan view, with a medialportion of the handle broken away, showing my six bottle carrier in use.

Fig, 2 is an end view of the carrier, with the bottles at rest on asupporting surface.

Fig. 3 is a section along the line 3-3 in Fig. 1 but showing the carriersupported by hand and with lower parts of the bottles omitted.

Fig. 4 is an end view illustrating the operation of the carrier.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a modified form of carrier adapted for carryingtwo milk bottles or similar containers.

Referring now more particularly and by reference characters to thedrawing A designates generally the frame or body of my carrier and B thehandle and locking member.

The body A acts as a supporting member for the bottles, indicatedgenerally at C and in the six bottle carrying version of Figs. 1-4 thebody comprises a flat, rectangular plate it] having its end and sidemargins H and i2 turned downwardly for stiffening purposes. This unit ispreferably made of metal and in the stamping operation the plate I0 ispunched with three spaced openings designated generally at 3 and each ofwhich extends crosswise of the plate, having narrow end portions orslots M joined by a medial, relatively wider portion I5.

The shape and arrangement of the openings t3 are such that six of thebottles C may be supported from the plate It, the necks C of the bottlesbeing fitted into the narrow rounded ends it of the slots M with thediametrically enlarged rims C" of the bottles supportably engaging themargin of the slots. The six bottles are then positioned in two parallelrows of three bottles each as clearly shown. The wide centers it of theopenings l3 are of a size such that they will clear the bottle rims Cmaking it possible readily to remove the bottles by causing them to moveinward bringing the rims into alignment with these centers, andreversely of course the bottles may be arranged in the carrier by firstinserting their necks and rims upwardly through the centers 15 and thenmoving the bottles out into the narrow ends of the openings.

The handle and locking member B is of rigid rectangular frame-likeconstruction having a locking portion or bar i7, spaced upright endportions 18 and a handle l9 connecting the upper extremities thereof.These parts may all be formed from one piece of sheet metal suitablybent and connected at its ends 20 by spot welding or other convenientfastening means. The looking bar ll is substantially narrower distancebetween the bottle necks C and it is disposed beneath of bottles asclearly shown. Its length is such that it nicely fits between the endflanges H of the plate iii and the end portions I8 turn upwardlyslida-bly through openings 2! formed in the plate for their reception,thus disposing the handle it above the plate and between the rows ofbottles. For convenience in carrying the handle it .is pressed to aconcave-convex cross section as clearly shown.

The foregoing arrangement is such that the handle-locking member B whenreleased will fall of its own weight to the position shown in Fig. 2,the locking bar ll dropping well below the'plate It between the rows ofbottles 0. The handle i9 then comes to rest below the level of the topsof the bottles so that carriers of bottles may be readily stacked, butis also spaced above the plate so that it may be readily grasped when itis desired to carry the bottles. For this purpose, the end portions idof the members B are each provided with stop means or lugs 22 projectingfrom opposite edges and adapted to contact the end margins of theopenings downward movement of the handle.

When the carrier is picked up by the handle 18 the locking bar ii isobviously pulled up against the underside of the plate id as seen inFig. 3, supporting the plate and bottles thereon, and in such positionthe bar traverses the wide centers 150i the openings [3 effectivelypreventing the bottles from moving into said centers under anyconditions and becoming disengaged from the carrier. 1

Referring now to Fig. i it wil1 be apparent that the bottles may bereadily removed from, or placed in the carrier one row of three at atime by placing the hands at opposite ends of the carrier and tiltingthe carrier so that the row of bottles being removed, rested on asuitable support, will remain upright and bring their necks toward thecenters of the plate it. In this position by lifting the carrier thisrow of bottles will slip through the centers 45 of the openings is, orby lowering the carrier it may be arranged over these necks and thenleveled to cause them to be engaged by the narrow ends 14' of theopenings. Meanwhile the other row of bottles will be held in place asclearly evident by the bar i1 preventing them from slipping toward thecenter of plate it. The rigid interconnection of all parts or the handleand locking member 33 obviously contributes greatly to the ease withwhich the bottles may be picked up, or discharged, three at a time inthis manner and it will be observed that the narrowness of the bar llallows it to descend well beneath the plate ii) without contacting thenecks of the bottles except in the case of the row being supported asthe other is picked up or discharged as in Fig.

than the the plate I!) between the rows 2i and limit the six bottlecarrier previously cated by corresponding reference numerals,

4. On the other hand it is found that the narrow locking bar is fullyeiiective to prevent disengagement of the bottles while they are beingcarried. In no case does the locking bar 11 tilt with respect to thehandle.

The carrier shown in Fig. 5 is similar in all essential respects to thatpreviously described and comprises a body A and handle B, and with anopening it adapted to receive and carry two bottles such as milk bottlesand the like. Other parts of the carrier identical with those in thedescribed are indiand it will, of course, be understood that othercombinations and sizes are possible for carrying bottles of any size andnumber desired.

It is understood that suitable modifications may be made in thestructure as disclosed, provided such modifications come within thespirit and scope of the appended claims.

Having now therefore fully illustrated and described my invention, whatI claim to be new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A device for carrying at least two bottles by their necks, comprisinga supporting member having an opening with narrow ends adapted tosupportably engage the bottle necks and a medial widened portion intowhich the bottles may be moved to remove them from or replace them inthe carrier, and a locking and carrying means comprising a memberdisposed between the bottle necks below said supporting member, saidlooking member being narrower than the space between the necks of thebottles but adapted when positioned against the underside of saidsupporting member to prevent movement of the bottle necks into registrywith the widened medial portion of the opening, and a handle connectedto said locking member.

2. A device for carrying at least two bottles by their necks, comprisinga supporting member having an opening with narrow ends adapted tosupportably engage the bottle necks and a medial widened portion intowhich the bottles may be moved to remove them from or replace them inthe carrier, and a locking and carrying means comprising a lockingmember having an oper ating handle, said locking member being disposedbeneath the supporting member between the bottles and being muchnarrower than the distance between the bottle necks whereby it may dropdown between the bottles while still clearing the same to provideclearance for removal of the bottles from the opening.

3. A device for carrying at least two bottles by their necks, comprisinga supportin member having an opening with narrow ends adapted tosupportably engage the bottle necks and a medial widened portion intowhich the bottles may be moved to remove them from or replace them inthe carrier, and a locking and carrying means comprising a rectangularrigid member having a locking portion disposed beneath the supportingmember between the bottle necks and adapted to move upwardly beneathsaid supporting member into position for preventing entry of the bottle.necks into the widened portion of the opening.

relation, a locking member disposedbelow the body member between thebottle necks and being substantially narrower than the distance betweenthe said necks, end members turned upwardly from the ends of the lockingmember and said body member having openings to slidably receive said endmembers, a handle joining the upper ends of the end members, saidlocking member being adapted to supportably engage the underside of thebody member when the handle is lifted and in such position to preventthe bottle necks from entry into the center portion of the said opening,and said locking member, end members and handle all being rigidlyconnected and formed of one piece of material.

5. A bottle carrier, comprising a body member having at least oneelongated opening having relatively narrow end portions adapted toreceive the necks of a pair of bottles introduced through the center ofthe opening and to support the bottles by their rims with their necks inspaced relation, a locking member disposed below the body member betweenthe bottle necks and being narrower than the space between said necks,end members turned upwardly from the ends of the locking member and saidbody member having openings to slidably receive said end members, ahandle joining the upper ends of the end members, said locking memberbeing adapted to supportably engage the underside of the body memberwhen the handle is lifted and in such position to prevent the bottlenecks from entry into the center portion of the said opening, saidhandle member when released being adapted to descend below the level Ofthe tops of the bottles, and stop means operative for limiting the 6downward movement of the handle and holding it when released in upwardlyspaced relation to the body member.

6.. The combination in a bottle carrier comprising a body member havingopenings adapted at their ends to supportably engage the bottles bytheir rims and adapted at their centers to clear said rims upon inwardmovement of the bottles, of a handle and locking assembly comprising abar located beneath the body member and movable up and down with respectthereto and in an upper position adapted to prevent such inward movementof the bottles, a handle rigidly connected to said bar and non-tiltablysupporting the bar for up and down movements as the handle is lifted orreleased, and said bar being substantially narrower than the spacebetween the bottle necks and adapted to clear the necks when lowered.

' DAVID W. MATTSON.

REFERENCES GETED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name 2,356,656 Datz Aug. 22, 1944 138,130Goodin June 20, 1944 2,339,598 Burge et a1 Jan. 18, 1944 2,348,187Beskin May 9, 1944 2,320,440 Kruea et a1 June 1, 1943 1,777,102 MooneySept, 30, 1930

